


It Should Always Be Like This

by remanth



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Brotp, Fighting, Frost Giants - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-06
Updated: 2014-01-06
Packaged: 2018-01-07 17:03:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1122327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/remanth/pseuds/remanth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thor is sent on a mission by Odin and given a choice in companions. Loki is the one he chooses. It's supposed to be a simple scouting mission but turns so much deadlier</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Should Always Be Like This

**Author's Note:**

> So this was a prompt for the lovely Vampeva-97 over on dA who prompted me with Loki saving Thor's ass. I wrote it as taking place sometime before the events of the movie Thor. That's why Thor is rather thoughtless and reckless and gung-ho in this rather than the thoughtful, careful man he becomes. I hope I got their voices right, Loki was rather difficult.

A training mission. That’s what Odin had called it and Thor had no reason to believe otherwise. He was beyond every other warrior in Asgard, much better than any of them singly or combined. Training had taken on an air of routine and boredom and Thor wanted more challenges. About the only one who could give him more than a minute or so in a bout was Loki but that was because Loki was a master of magic and deception. Their fights consisted of Thor looking for Loki and working through the illusions the other Asgardian set up. Which, while entertaining in its own way, wasn’t quite was Thor was looking for.

“You may take one other with you,” Odin pronounced, staring down at his eldest son from the golden throne he sat upon. It was ornate and massive, loudly proclaiming that here sat a ruler. Here sat someone who held power over life and death in his domain. “Your choice is part of the test. A good warrior, and a good king, knows how to make the best use of his people and other resources. After all, people are a resource a king must consider. Choose wisely, my son.”

“I will take my brother Loki with me,” Thor said decisively after thinking for just a moment. It really wasn’t all that hard a choice. Other than Lady Sif and the Warriors Three, Loki was the one Thor trusted most to have his back. “When do we leave, Father?”

“As soon as you have told him and have packed,” Odin replied, keeping his face blank and somewhat stern even though a thrill of pride flashed through him. Loki was an excellent choice for where he was sending Thor, for more than one reason. “Report back to me when you both return. Good luck, my son.”

“Thank you, Father,” Thor replied, saluting his father with fist over his heart. With a grin, Thor bounded up and left the throne room quickly, knowing Loki would be with the others practicing. When Thor appeared in the doorway to the training room, Sif saw him first and signalled the others. Loki turned with a curious look on his face and waited a little off to the side from the others. No matter how they fought and trained together, he’d always felt a little separate. Thor was the only one he felt truly was family. Well, Thor and Frigga.

“Well?” Sif asked when Thor said nothing. “What did the Allfather want?”

“He’s sending me on what he called a training mission,” Thor replied, smugness apparent in his voice. “It’s a challenge for me. I leave as soon as I’m ready.”

“And are we going with you?” Fandral asked, twirling his sword eagerly. “I must admit, I am bored sparring against fake targets or each other. An outing would be fun.”

“Father told me I could take one person with me. A lesson in utilizing resources,” Thor replied, a slightly sarcastic lilt to his voice.

“Who will be going with you, brother?” Loki asked curiously, crossing his arms over his chest. “Who did you choose?”

“I chose you,” Thor replied, giving Loki and excited smile. “We leave immediately. Ready yourself, brother, and meet me at the Bifrost.”

Thor ignored the babble of voices that broke out at his words, mostly complaints and arguments about who he had chosen. Everyone wanted out of Asgard, to have a little adventure and return covered in glory. Most vocal were Sif and Fandral, Sif bitterly lamenting that Loki had been chosen and not her. There was something she didn’t quite trust about the other Asgardian, something that worried her. But he had done nothing to earn that distrust and so Sif kept it to herself. Thor picked up Mjolnir from the bench he had let it rest on and strolled out. Loki listened to the argument for a few moments, wondering what exactly he wanted to bring with him. Finally, he decided to keep the daggers he was wearing and bring nothing else. Speed was his ally, speed and his magic. Anything else would merely slow him down.

“I like this not,” Sif finally said, settling down on a bench to sharpen her spear. She shot a glare at Loki from the corner of her eye as the man turned away.

“What can you do?” Volstagg asked, shrugging expansively. “The Allfather has spoken and Thor has chosen. I say, let him fight this time while we feast. It’s about time for dinner.”

“You’re always thinking of your next meal,” Hogun accused Volstagg, quiet voice hard to hear in the training room. Loki’s retreating steps faded away before Hogun spoke again, eyes troubled as he stared at the door the other man had left from. “It worries me, Loki the only one going with Thor. I don’t trust him.”

“He’s Thor’s brother,” Fandral argued, shaking his head. “Why not trust him? He’s never given us cause not to.”

“No, but there’s still something not quite right,” Sif said, nodding at Hogun. It was reassuring to know someone shared her misgivings. “I’ve seen Loki’s face when he thinks no one’s paying attention. There’s a hunger there sometimes that worries me.”

“Be that as it may, there’s nothing we can do now,” Volstagg said, sliding his giant axe into the holster on his side. “And I’m starving! I could eat a whole roast pig. Let’s go eat.”

Sif shook her head and followed after the others, worry coiling in her belly. If there had been any way for her to follow without the Allfather knowing, she would have. But Sif had no doubt that Heimdall would tell the Allfather the moment she left. If he even let her follow Thor and Loki at all. The only thing she could do, any of them could do, was wait. And maybe eating would distract her enough from the worried thoughts chasing themselves around her mind.

\---------------------------------------

“Took you long enough,” Thor laughed, clapping a hand on Loki’s shoulder as the other man stepped up beside him. “Are you ready for an adventure, brother?”

“Yes, but don’t let your exuberance blind you to danger,” Loki cautioned, ever the voice of reason for his brother. “We don’t know what might be waiting for us.”

“That’s the fun of it,” Thor replied, laughing again and turning to Heimdall. “Heimdall, when you are ready.”

“I will keep watch for your return,” Heimdall said in his deep voice before activating the Bifrost. “Be careful. There is something... something out there, where the Allfather is sending you.”

Loki cast a troubled glance at Thor but his brother completely missed it in his excitement. It had been far too long since he’d been out of Asgard, had something to occupy his mind. Thor was practically vibrating with anticipation. Loki merely checked his daggers and squared his shoulders. While he was looking forward to the trip as well, a worry nagged at him. This seemed strange, the Allfather sending Thor out without much information. Or without more warriors to assist him. Between one breath and the next, the Bifrost took them and the shot across the intervening space between realms. Colored light flashed around them as a breeze whistled past, stars and planets and the darkness of space accompanying them on the trip. Finally, with a growling thump, they landed on another world. It was bitterly cold, a single moon shining down from a dark, dark sky. Snow and ice crunched beneath their boots as a frigid wind bit through their clothing.

“So what exactly are we doing here?” Loki asked, shivering a bit in the cold.

“Scouting,” Thor replied shortly, looking around curiously and with a touch of confusion. “Father got some information that frost giants were gathering here. It seems like a place they’d enjoy.”

“Oh, scouting for frost giants,” Loki said sarcastically, shaking his head as they started walking. “Perfect. Just perfect. And what are the two of us supposed to do if we come upon a gathering of them? I have no wish to die here, brother?”

“Then we do what I do best,” Thor replied, grinning fiercely for a moment. “We fight and we kill them.”

Loki just shook his head again, watching the snow carefully around him. The ground was nowhere near flat and several small hillocks could hide frost giants. And the fact that the place was covered in snow meant the frost giants could really hide just about anywhere. Here, they were in their natural element and they were the interlopers. That was evident in the steam blowing from their mouths and the shivers that wracked their limbs. They walked for about five minutes through the trackless wasteland until voices caught their attention. Without waiting or thinking it through, Thor sped up and topped the next rise before Loki did. What met their eyes made Loki swallow in fear and reach for his daggers.

Eight frost giants stood in a circle, arguing back and forth. The circle wasn’t completely closed, room for more to fill it obvious. And they came walking in from the opposite direction, four more frost giants to fill the hole in the circle left for them. Loki pulled Thor back, crouching so that only their heads appeared above the rise. It wouldn’t do for the twelve frost giants to see them. Eight they might have been able to handle themselves. But not twelve. Besides, the purpose of this was to gather information and Loki wanted to hear what they were saying.

“What are you doing?” Thor whispered angrily, pulling his arm out of Loki’s grasp. “We should fall on them and slay them all! It will be glorious battle.”

“Thor, _think_ ,” Loki whispered back emphatically, grabbing his brother’s arm again. “There are twelve of them. We need to listen to what they’re saying and take the information back to Father. It will do us no good to be killed here.”

“Always worrying, brother,” Thor replied, pulling his arm from Loki’s grasp again and standing up. “We’ve heard and seen enough. To battle!”

Thor didn’t wait for Loki nor listen to his name called as he ran forward into the circle of frost giants. Swinging Mjolnir, Thor managed to take one frost giant by surprise while one of Loki’s daggers suddenly sprouted from the throat of another. But that was the only advantage the two Asgardians had. Battle was fierce, flowing across the snowy ground. Several times, Thor almost slipped on icy patches but managed to catch himself in time. Loki fought from a distance, using his magic and daggers. Two more frost giants went down, leaving eight in the fight. Thor was laughing maniacally with each swing of his hammer, obviously enjoying himself. Loki fought with a more resigned and determined air, knowing exactly how badly odds stood against them. Thor managed to take out another frost giant while Loki used a bolt of green magic to kill two more. Then they were separated.

Two frost giants singled Loki out and charged him, causing him to skip back several times to stay out of their range. While he could fight hand-to-hand courtesy of their mother, Frigga, that wasn’t Loki’s preferred method. The remaining four frost giants surrounded Thor, studying the blond man carefully for any weaknesses. With a shared glance, the four charged him at once. Thor was pressed hard, barely keeping their swords of ice from cutting into him. Yet he was enjoying himself, enjoying the sheer challenge the battle presented to him. There were no thoughts of death, no thoughts of even failing to win. Loki shared no such optimism.

“Damn it,” Loki snapped as one frost giant charged him and he couldn’t get out of the way in time. He blocked the blows leveled at his chest and head, spinning to the side and slicing a dagger across the frost giant’s throat. He fell gurgling, one hand clenched to his throat as he died. The second frost giant charged in when Loki was off balance and managed to knock the smaller man off his feet. Raising his sword and grinning, the frost giant plunged it down into Loki. But the sword went straight through him with no blood and the illusion faded. The few seconds it took the frost giant to lift his sword and pause to gloat had given Loki enough time to slip away. He slammed both daggers into the frost giant’s back, hitting vital organs and letting the daggers slip back out as the giant fell. Taking a deep breath, Loki cleaned the daggers quickly in the snow before turning to look for Thor. What he saw froze his blood.

“Thor!” Loki cried out, terror turning his voice shrill. Two of the frost giants that had surrounded Thor were down, their heads crushed in by the strength of Mjolnir. But the third, while Thor had been distracted by the other two, had managed to land a blow on Thor’s head. The Asgardian had dropped Mjolnir and was wavering on his feet, one hand raised to the side of his head. He looked up blearily at the frost giant, who had raised his sword to take Thor’s head from his shoulders.

Loki reacted on instinct, magic flashing from his hands as he made a throwing gesture. This magic was black with a green tinge, something darker than anything he had ever cast before. The bolt took the frost giant in the chest, blowing a hole clean through him. The ice sword dropped from suddenly nerveless fingers as the frost giant stared down at the hole in his chest in incomprehension. Then, he dropped to his knees and tumbled forward facedown into the snow. It was done and the twelve frost giants lay dead in the snow. Loki rushed forward to Thor’s side, catching the blond man before he could fall. The blow had been rather hard and he was still dazed.

“Loki,” Thor murmured, trying to focus on his brother’s face. “You... you saved me.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Loki replied, not bothering to try and pick up Mjolnir. He wasn’t able to lift it and Thor was enough of a burden. “Though if you hadn’t rushed in like a fool, brother, I might not have needed to. Now pick up your hammer. We need to get you to the healers.”

“Thank you,” Thor said, reaching down to grab the hammer and lifting it effortlessly. The motion made his head spin and he leaned more onto Loki. “Both of you.”

“Great, now you’re seeing double,” Loki muttered before looking up into the sky. “Heimdall, the Bifrost if you please.”

The whirling colors caught them and pulled them back to Asgard where Heimdall greeted them with a stoic face. He congratulated them on a battle well-fought as he shut down the Bifrost. Thor nodded and managed a smile before Loki took them both back to the palace. The healers took charge of Thor and had him better quickly. A concussion was not that difficult for them to heal, after all. Loki waited impatiently while Thor was being treated, fidgeting with a dagger as he thought over the conversation he’d heard. The Allfather would definitely want to know.

“Ah, there you are,” Thor said jovially as he came out of the healing room. He clapped Loki on the shoulder and shook him, not quite gently. “Thank you, brother. I owe you my life.”

“You’re welcome, Thor,” Loki replied, smiling at his brother. “Though let’s not make that a habit, shall we?”

“You know, it should always be like this,” Thor said in a moment of rare reflection and introspection as they walked to Odin’s throne room. “We make a good team.”

“And we’d make a better one if you weren’t so reckless,” Loki chided though a thrill of pride went through him at Thor’s words. Laughing quietly together, because after all they’d survived a glorious battle and come back to report on something of import to the Allfather, Loki and Thor walked on in harmonious accord.


End file.
